05x08 - Shark's Tonic Immobility in the Bahamas + Diving With NASA

[bunniefuu]

[gentle music]

- [Narrator] Next on "Blue World",

Jonathan learns how astronauts
are trained underwater.

But first, he learns how to hold a shark.

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Meet Jonathan Bird,

one of the world's top underwater
nature cinematographers.

Traveling the world on assignment

for all the major networks,

he is an Emmy Award-winning authority

on the underwater world.

In freshwater or salt,
reefs, wrecks, or caves,

Jonathan documents the
world beneath the waves.

Welcome to the "Blue World".

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- [Jonathan] Back in the first season

of "Jonathan Bird's Blue World,"

I visited shark researcher Kanesa Duncan,

who was working with
baby hammerhead sharks

to learn how fast they grow.

Her work with the sharks
was made much easier

because she could put
them into a relaxed state,

called tonic immobility.

But will it work under water?

Meet Neal Harvey.

- It's just practice.

It's just repetitive practice
over and over and over.

- [Jonathan] Neal is a
world renowned expert

in shark tonic immobility.

It's his job.
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Neal is a shark handler at
Stuart Cove's Dive Bahamas.

It's hard to believe
what a cool job he has.

Every day, he introduces
divers to wild sharks.

And part of his job is to show people

the gentler side of these big fish.

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Neal shows divers how wild
sharks can be pet like puppies

if they're first put
into tonic immobility.

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Neal has a remarkable
rapport with these sharks.

Would it be possible for me

to learn a little bit of
Neal's amazing technique?

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To find out, cameraman Tim and I fly down

to Nassau, Bahamas.

Our mission?

To meet Neal and get some
personalized instruction

in shark tonic immobility.
[screen whooshing]

On the dock, Neal and I
discuss the plan for the day.

- [Neal] We're gonna go
out south to AUTEC buoy

out in the middle of the trench,

try to bait for some silky sharks.

- [Johnathan] He explains
that the best way to start

is for me to try tonic
immobility with smaller sharks.

Juvenile silky sharks

are easy to put into tonic
immobility in the classic way,

by flipping them upside down.

This technique only
works with small sharks.

The trick is finding some silky sharks.

[gentle music]

We load the boat for a trip way offshore

to a place where silky
sharks are sometimes seen.

Got it?
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Captain Klejay sets a course
for the US Navy AUTEC buoy.

It's more than 30 miles offshore

in the open ocean where silky sharks live.

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- [Jonathan] Part of the Navy's

advanced submarine testing range,

the AUTEC buoy is tethered
in 5,000 feet of water.

Because large floating
objects in the open sea

often attract marine life just like reefs,

sometimes there are silky sharks here.

But overfishing has severely
reduced the population.

Neal throws some chum into the water,

while Captain Klejay
makes some fishy snacks.

We suit up for a shallow
dive in deep water.

[water splashing]

[gentle music]

The water is an endless sea of blue,

and there's nothing here.
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Perched on the hanging chum box,

Neal patiently breaks
off little chunks of fish

to make a trail of bite-sized shark snacks

leading right to us.
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His efforts pay off, after
what seems like an eternity,

a single silky shark shows up.

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I film her at a distance
as she circles us,

munching the bait, but she's on to us.

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Neal just can't seem to catch her.

We chum patiently for two hours,

but finally we have to
admit, we've been skunked.

Back aboard the boat, we head for home.

It's a long ride home with
nothing to show for a day's work.

And without the silkies as a warmup,

I'm going to have to jump straight

to the much larger Caribbean
reef sharks with no practice.

The next morning under cloudy skies,

we load the boat and head
out with Captain Denzel

only a few hundred yards.

This is where they feed
the Caribbean reef sharks.

Now the real fun begins.

I get to wear a stainless
steel chainmail suit.

- Yeah, that's the back.

So you're gonna step into a -

- Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait.

Someone got their butt chomped.

- Yeah.

- That's not good!

- [Off-Screen Voice] They
do get a from time to time.

You can sit down.

- Wait a minute. Does this stuff work?

- [Off-Screen Voice 1] All right.

- [Jonathan] If a shark
bites me wearing this,

only the points of the teeth
can get through the links

in the metal mesh.

Between that and the
thickness of my wetsuit,

I should be fairly safe from any bites.

Neal and I are joined by cameraman Tim,

and Daniele Buttarelli,

one of the other senior shark
feeders at Stuart Coves.

He has a very important job
today, to be my safety diver.

- [Neal] You need a sword. You
look like a medieval knight.

- [Jonathan] Neal wears
chain mail on his head

because yes, the sharks are
big enough to bite your head.

Daniele sets me up with a plastic helmet.

[water splashing]

Neal hits the water first,

while the rest of us finish gearing up.

Like I'm good to go.

Neal will take the chum
box down to the bottom

and start feeding.

The sharks are used to this routine.

Every day, one of the shark
feeders comes down with food,

so when they hear the boat pull up,

all the sharks start to come
in from around the reef.

Back on the surface, I'm
jumping into a shark convention,

with cameraman Tim right behind me.

[gentle music]

Caribbean reef sharks have the
classic heavy-bodied sharky

look with gray over white counter shading.

They reach three meters
long, the length of a couch,

and well over 100 pounds.

As a general rule,

these sharks are not
aggressive towards divers,

but they definitely know that the guy

with the bait box is going to feed them.

So when Neal shows up with food,

it's like someone rang the dinner bell.

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Within minutes,

we're all surrounded by
dozens of big sharks.

They almost line up to
take turns swimming by Neal

for a snack.
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Neal has this down pat.

He tells me where to position myself

for great shots of the sharks
grabbing the fish off the end

of his feeding stick.
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I am right up in there,
close to the feeding,

so Daniele's right behind
me, keeping an eye on things.

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Sometimes two sharks go
for the same piece at once,

and they get a little
pushy, but in general,

they're actually pretty
good at taking turns.

I don't really feel threatened at all.

When a small nurse shark
wanders into the scene,

Neal sees an opportunity.

He quickly grabs the shark
and flips her upside down.

He has to do it quickly,

because if he doesn't get the shark

into tonic immobility fast,

she will bend around and bite him.

While she's upside down,
the nurse shark relaxes.

This is classic tonic immobility.

But this is a small shark.

How would you ever do that with a shark

the size of a Caribbean reef shark?

I'm about to find out.

[gentle music]

One of the sharks comes in close,

and Neal begins to gently stroke
the underside of her snout

with his fingers and she calms down.

[gentle music]

Sharks have pores on their snouts and face

called ampullae of Lorenzini.

The ampullae of Lorenzini
are electroreceptors,

tiny organs designed to
detect electrical currents

in the water.

They help sharks hunt in low light

by allowing them to sense the
minute electrical signatures

of living things.

Biologists think that
Neal's stainless steel glove

causes some kind of sensation

in the shark's electroreception.

It tends to make sharks calm down

into a state of tonic immobility.

It doesn't mean that they're
paralyzed or hypnotized.

They're just very mellow,
and they're not upside down.

[gentle music]

If this shark were a cat, she
would definitely be purring,

and you have to admit, she's kind of cute.

[gentle music]

Just to show me how
relaxed the sharks can get,

Neal lifts her up
vertically for a shark hug.

[gentle music]

When the shark's had enough,
she perks up and swims away,

joining the other sharks
for another round of snacks.

It's clear that the sharks
actually enjoy this.

As I film, I notice certain individuals

keep coming back to
Neal for more attention.

They nuzzle right up to him like a kitten.

Neal wants to show me how it's done,

so I put my camera down and come around.

[gentle music]

I hate to keep using the cat analogy,

but this really is just like
rubbing under a cat's chin.

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I get the feeling she would
sit here for a long time,

but when Tim brings the big
camera in closer, she spooks.

But there is no question that
was awesome. I pet a shark.

For the next phase of my shark training,

Neal gets another shark
mellowed out in position

and has me get up alongside the shark.

[gentle music]

While tickling the nose,

and with a firm grip on the dorsal fin,

all I have to do is

try again.
[disappointing music]

[gentle music]

Clearly this is not as easy as it looks.

Neal finds another candidate
and even proves it can be done.

Now all I have to do is not mess it up.

[gentle music]

I take my position,

and hopefully the third time is the charm.

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Whoa, this thing is heavy.
It's no wonder sharks sink.

I'm holding a shark.

[bright music]

That was really cool.

Neal has shown me how to hold a shark,

but now it's time for his
ultimate demonstration

of shark tonic immobility.

[gentle music]

Finding the right animal in the right mood

requires patience.
[gentle music]

I film quite a few
impressive shark maneuvers.

Not all sharks are up for it.

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Pretty soon, Neal is flipping
sharks left and right.

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Neal could do this all day,
and so could the sharks.

So cameraman Tim gets
himself a front row seat.

So far, all of these
animals have been female.

In general, the females
are more cooperative,

and it's fairly rare to
get a male to do this.

But towards the end of the day,

even one of the males
wants to join the fun

with a most impressive
one-armed headstand.

[gentle music]

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As the last dive comes to an end,

and we head back up to the boat,

I have to smile because I
get to do the coolest stuff.

[gentle music]

Sure, we struck out with the silky sharks,

but I learned how to pick
up a shark underwater,

and I got to watch in amazement

as Neal Harvey demonstrated
just how gentle

and docile sharks can be.

It's just another reason
why sharks are so cool.

And another reason to fall
in love with the blue world.

[gentle music]

- [Narrator] Don't go away,

Jonathan is going scuba
diving with astronauts.

- [Jonathan] Today's adventure takes me

to the Johnson Space Center
at NASA in Houston, Texas.

Here, they train astronauts
to work in microgravity

by simulating these conditions underwater.

Outside, it just looks
like a huge warehouse.

But inside is the Neutral
Buoyancy Laboratory, the NBL.

It's basically a swimming pool,

but nearly the size of a football field.

[gentle music]

The astronauts are suited up in spacesuits

specially modified to go underwater.

A crane lifts them into the pool,

wearing 300 pounds of spacesuit apiece.

[upbeat music]

Meanwhile, I'm getting ready too,

but no fancy spacesuit for me.

[bright music]

I descend into the clearest
water I've ever seen,

and it looks like an underwater movie set.

The pool is a staggering 40 feet deep.

And everywhere I look are
full-sized replica sections

of the International Space Station.

[bright music]

Each astronaut is carefully weighted

to be precisely neutrally buoyant.

Once weighted properly, the
astronauts hover in the water

as if floating in the
weightlessness of space.

[bright music]

Since fins don't work in space,

the astronauts don't
get to wear them here.

They must be moved from
task to task by the divers.

[bright music]

The divers are also responsible

for keeping a careful eye
on everything happening.

Each astronaut has four
divers assigned to him or her.

Two are safety divers.

Another has a camera with a
cable going to the control room.

And there are more cameras mounted

all over the inside of the pool, too.

[gentle music]

In the test director room
overlooking the pool,

staff oversee the safety of the operation.

They see virtually everything
happening underwater.

If anything were to go wrong,

the divers can get the astronaut

to the surface in only seconds.

[bright music]

The test conductor speaks
directly to the astronauts

through communication
gear in their helmets.

[bright music]

But powerful underwater
speakers allow the safety divers

to hear everything that's being said.

[muffled conversation]

The point of all this effort

is to provide a learning
environment for astronauts,

where they can practice
tasks over and over

in simulated microgravity

before they're required to
do it by themselves in space.

Tasks that are easy on land

become much harder in microgravity,

and harder still while
wearing a spacesuit.

[tool whirring]

Astronauts have to practice getting into

and out of a foot restraint,

which is used on spacewalks
to provide an anchoring point.

[bright music]

It has to be done by feel,
because in the spacesuit,

the astronauts can't
actually see their feet.

[bright music]

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Getting around on the space station mockup

is done the same way it's done in orbit,

hand over hand on grab rails.

But in space,

you don't have a safety
diver watching your back.

[gentle music]

The NBL is an incredibly
important training tool

for astronauts.

It is by far the most realistic way

to provide a microgravity
training environment on Earth.

Every astronaut spends hundreds of hours

training in the NBL before going to space.

When the day comes to conduct
an emergency space walk

to repair a critical malfunction,
the astronauts are ready,

because of their outstanding
underwater training

in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab.

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